11.8 
THE GERMAN METHOD OF BRINGING GUNS INTO ACTION. 
to the. view of his enemy, unless he courts the fate of those three 
French Horse Artillery batteries at Sedan. It must be borne in mind 
too, that though the German Artillery in their last war was very 
powerful, infinitely more so than that of their opponent, their projectiles 
were as nothing compared to the deadly shrapnel of the present day. 
Artillery which is already in position if any time at all has been 
available, will have ascertained with tolerable accuracy the distances to 
all likely conspicuous points and positions which the enemy’s artillery 
may probably take up. This is laid down in the Field Artillery Drill 
Book, 1896, page 80, and in Part V. Infantry Drill, 1896, S. 118, for 
the artillery of the defence; and it must be borne in mi/nd that it will 
be in a vast majority of cases the artillery of the defence that will be 
the “ artillery already in position.” Imagine, for instance, a brigade 
division bringing its eighteen guns up to the crest of an intended 
position, in full view of a line of guns, already in action at within 2500 
yards; the latter artillery would be anything but efficient, if they did 
not succeed in rendering liors-de-combat a good proportion of the 
enemy’s guns and teams, and if the latter are destroyed, the former are 
as good as lost for ulterior movements and action. 
I witnessed a remarkable instance bearing on this subject on the last 
day of the corps manoeuvres in Baden last autumn. The corps and 
divisional artillery of the Western Force came up in two columns and 
deployed under cover of a long roll of ground, they unlimbered behind 
the crest and ran the guns up by hand; the first intimation of their 
proximity and presence was the opening fire by 72 guns at a range of 
under 2000 yards, within which distance of them I was standing with 
the Eastern Artillery, which was already in position. The effect was 
judged to be annihilating, as the latter had but six batteries. How 
different might not the case have been had the former artillery exposed 
their limbers and teams on the crest of the position. We must consider 
too the effect on the men; had the warfare been real, directly the 
guns appeared, rapid fire would have been opened by the Eastern 
Artillery, and the Western would have had to come into action in 
face of a “ feu d’enfer ” with shells bursting about their ears, under 
which circumstances, the best soldiers at the beginning of a fight would 
become flurried and unsteady. As the operation was carried out, their 
was nothing to upset their nerves and they gained the inestimable 
advantage of taking the initiative and firing the first rounds ; so that 
the nervous excitement, which must fall to the lot of those, about whose 
heads the first shells burst, was felt by the artillery which was first in 
position and not by that which came up to combat it. 
On the other hand, if guns are brought up into a position which is 
not within the range of artillery or infantry fire, it seems to matter 
very little how they are brought up, and it would be the natural 
impulse of every sensible commanding officer to spare his gunners the 
labour of running up the guns by hand, provided he knew that the 
act of unlimbering in the firing position would not betray it and impart 
useful information to a watchful enemy. 
It may be argued that the length of time during which the horses 
